Chapter 1: Tensions as Catalysts For Transformation: Multidisciplinary Education Faculty Perceptions While Implementing Service-Learning

The findings from this study demonstrate how tensions shaped 16 faculty members’ implementation of service-learning in their courses at Georgia State University’s College of Education. We frame tensions not as problems to be solved but as experiences that ground ones’ understanding, reveal underlying values, expose contradictions, and inform decisions. The participating faculty members integrated service-learning in a variety of educator preparation courses, from PK–12 kinesiology to elementary language arts to secondary social studies. They worked together in a professional learning community to discuss their experiences and perceptions throughout an academic year. The faculty members described three types of tensions: philosophical, pedagogical, and logistical. These tensions yielded deepened concepts about service-learning pedagogy, its ideological underpinnings, and the role of faculty in both areas. Such tensions are ongoing considerations that should be shared and discussed among faculty and teacher preparation students to further advance the transformation of teacher education through service-learning.